How pharmaceutical companies master digital disruption - Namics

Digital pharma trends 2021

How pharmaceutical companies master digital disruption

Geneva/Frankfurt, March 31, 2021 – How can pharmaceutical companies meet the
challenges of digitalization? New competitors are entering the market with digital
offerings, while the big players have some catching up to do in terms of digital strategy,
agility and asset management. Pharma experts Tobias Hollritt, Head of Sales for
German-speaking Switzerland at Isobar, and Jens Reufsteck, Account Director at
Namics, have identified the three key trends for 2021. Namics and Isobar Switzerland
merged at the beginning of this year and will rebrand under Merkle in the DACH region
from April. The two experts have already joined forces to take a closer look at the key
digital trends in the pharmaceutical industry and derive recommended actions.

Mass medicine is a thing of the past – in the pharmaceutical industry, all signs point to
personalization. Patients are making new demands, and at the same time it is becoming
increasingly difficult to reach the target group in the digital age. This shift is particularly
challenging for the large and often cumbersome pharmaceutical companies: For them, keeping
up in terms of innovation and agility is a daunting task, and one that most cannot manage in-
house. At the same time, digital disruption is now rapidly transforming the pharmaceutical
market; technological advances are giving new market entrants tools to challenge long-
established leaders. Fundamental change is taking place at every point in the value chain –
from building new partnerships to embracing healthcare service offerings.

"Pharma industry leaders would be remiss if they now sat back and watched startups and big
tech companies change the landscape around them," says Tobias Hollritt. "Only by channeling
the forces of disruption to their own ends and by leading digital transformation will they avoid
being left behind."

This can be concretely illustrated by three trends that pharma companies should pay attention
to in the current year:

Trend 1: A data-driven CX strategy puts patients at the centre

The latest disruption demands a change in perspective that puts the target group at the center
of all digital activities – whether they are patients, doctors or pharmacists. Only in this way can
pharmaceutical companies create tailored digital products and services and tap future
potential. The first step is to collect the target group's data – of course in compliance with the
GDPR and applicable regulatory requirements – and then analyze it automatically using AI-
based tools. With this data, their wishes and needs can be addressed precisely.

Customers now expect real-time information about digital offers as well as constant
entertainment – just as they have grown accustomed to streaming services, virtual voice
assistants, and commerce apps. Millennials prefer to use digital communication channels and
are now found in all target groups. Equally crucial for CXM (Customer Experience
Management) strategies are data protection and transparency: only if both are ensured will
customers trust pharmaceutical companies in handling their sensitive data.

"For example, we are helping a Swiss pharmaceutical company migrate its global Drupal
website and deploy it in the pharma environment to provide local medical staff and patients
with relevant brand and medical information," Hollritt explains. "We're also leveraging Social
Studio's artificial intelligence: it reports adverse events and categorizes comments from
Novartis' omnichannel environments – all in an automated fashion."

Trend 2: Increasing agility and responding to new market developments

To keep up with ever shorter development cycles for drugs and products, pharmaceutical
companies must adopt a more agile approach to project management. After all, intensified
competition is also opening up opportunities for new players.

Agile working increases innovative strength – a key factor, especially in the R&D departments
of drug manufacturers. Agile product development generates verifiable results quickly while
reducing the risk of costly malinvestments. In the pharmaceutical industry, digital
transformation is bringing new tools and technologies to the market every day. The more
adaptable the company, the faster it can take advantage of these and keep pace with the
competition. Agility is also tied to a culture of testing. Pharmaceutical companies should always
check which new technologies and channels will convince their target audience.

"This is where our SCRUM Services for Life Science come in, providing customers with
experienced Agile Coaches and SCRUM Masters. Tools such as AI-based chat bot
implementation also improve the customer experience by increasing agility," says Jens
Reufsteck.

Trend 3: Intelligent content and asset management improves customer interaction

According to a 2019 study, 89 percent of all patients educate themselves on healthcare topics.
The pandemic is likely to have driven this number even higher. Today, it is critical to deliver
increasingly large amounts of relevant content to customers in an efficient and timely manner.
Contextualization and personalization also play an important role as they become more
granular and reduce time-to-market. Especially in the B2B sector, a highly personalized sales
approach is crucial.

This is best achieved with intelligent content and asset management systems. They
orchestrate and manage all content in the customer journey across the various corporate
channels. The systems provide users with exactly the information they need at any given point
in their customer journey. In doing so, companies save time and reduce administrative effort.
They can also evaluate results with the system data and decide which content to continue
using. At the same time, customers benefit from content that meets their exact needs.

"One example is the deployment of a new global digital asset management (DAM) platform. It
serves as the backbone for customer interaction across the entire customer journey – from
planning, development, approval and validation to legal review, storage, publishing,
management, customer engagement, tracking and analysis," Reufsteck says.

Press contacts:

 Switzerland:                                  Germany & Austria:
 Margherita Masiello                           Sabrina Schöttler
 margherita.masiello@isobar.com                sabrina.schoettler@namics.com
 +41 78 235 66 65                              +49 151 527 028 39

Pictures:

 Tobias Hollritt, Head of Sales Swiss          Jens Reufsteck, Account Director at Namics – A
 Germany at Isobar                             Merkle Company

The digital trends in the pharmaceutical industry 2021.

About Isobar

We are a global digital agency transforming businesses and brands through the creative use of digital. Our 6,500
digital experts in 85 locations across 45 markets in Americas, EMEA and APAC deliver experience-led
transformation, powered by creativity through our end to end service offering. Isobar’s clients include adidas, Coca-
Cola, Enterprise, KFC, Nestle and Philips. Isobar is part of dentsu, a wholly owned subsidiary
of dentsu International. www.isobar.com

About Namics – A Merkle Company
Namics creates winners in digital transformation. As an award-winning digital specialist, Namics pursues the
mission of providing holistic support for customers in their digital transformation: From vision to reality - thanks to
many years of expertise in strategic consulting, innovative concepts, creative work and technological
implementation from a single source. Around 550 employees support the following clients from a wide variety of
industries including ADAC, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bucherer, Daimler AG, DriveNow, Hoval, Jelmoli, Kaufland,
KUKA, Medela, Migros, Siemens, Swiss Life, UBS and Victorinox. For further information visit www.namics.com.

Namics and Isobar Switzerland are currently merging and will rebrand as Merkle across the DACH region from April
2021.

About Merkle

Merkle is a leading data-driven, technology-enabled, global performance marketing agency that specializes in the
delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. For more than 30 years,
Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of
their customer portfolios. The agency’s heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its
unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights that drive people-based marketing strategies. Its combined
strengths in performance media, customer experience, customer relationship management, loyalty, and enterprise
marketing technology drive improved marketing results and competitive advantage. With 6,800 employees, Merkle
is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with 19 additional offices in the US and 33 offices in Europe and APAC.
In 2016, the agency joined the Dentsu Aegis Network. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or
visit www.merkleinc.com.